The invention falls in the area of plasma arc furnaces for the creation of Synthetic gases. Also, this invention uses the chemical process of converting one or more of the Synthetic gases into Methanol with the use of catalysts. Also, this invention falls in the area of electricity generation from waste heat. Also, this invention deals with the disposal of municipal waste in the form of sewage and/or any carbon containing material including pre or post and fill material.
The use of Plasma Arc Furnaces in the creation of syngas (CO and H2) is a technology which is typically located in large installations that occupy acres of and with capital costs in the multi tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. These costs and physical sizes are defined by the system components chosen. These, in turn, are based on electrical energy costs, method of waste heat recovery, process for gas clean up, and value of the end product. The typical plasma arc furnace employs air as a process gas which is electrically heated in a plasma arc torch for raising the material in the furnace vessel to de-polymerization temperatures of around 750-1400 degrees C. The use of air introduces Nitrogen into the high temperature environment of the furnace producing Nitrous and metal oxides in the waste stream. If there is discharge, these pollute the local environmental air.
The problem of processing municipal sewage is a daunting burden for municipalities. Current practice is to biologically neutralize the waste in various stages. This normally includes a bioreactor in which bacteria is utilized to consume and convert most simple nutrients as well as to kill pathogens. The residues are separated in various settling tanks. The eventual output from a sewage processing plant is typically in the form of three products. The first is a theoretically drinkable nearly pure water, the second is a concentrated sludge, and the third is nitro humus fertilizer sent off for packaging and sale to nurseries and gardening.
Improvements to the current state of the art of Plasma Arc Furnace systems would be useful, in particular where one or more of the above identified problems are mitigated.